ALTERNATE
TALES OF THE STAR FORCE
STAR BLAZERS—RADNAR’S
GAME
Being the sixth part of THE
NEW COMET--- BY: Frederick P. Kopetz
This Act is being completed with the
Cooperation and Assistance of Derek A.C. Wakefield (as usual)---Freddo
ACT THREE:
I.
MORE HOMECOMINGS
Space
Battleship
The
Vicinity of Sirius
April
10, 2207
1521
Hours: Earthtime
At this hour of the day, Lieutenant Deke Wakefield was not flying.
Instead, he was sighing to himself as he worked on some of the
paperwork that now occupied his time as a Squadron Leader of the Sun Tigers. He
had never known until recently how much paperwork a squadron leader had to
maintain for a Flight Group Leader.
Daily maintenance reports on planes. Readiness reports on the
eleven pilots in his squadron. Action and patrol reports.
Deke was digging into an action report from an Ensign Caraba in
his squadron from today’s patrol (No Contacts, No Incidents) when Brew showed
up.
“Yeah?” said Deke as he paused and began beating a tattoo on his
desk with his drumsticks.
“I’m not here to discuss paperwork, Dekesticks.”
“What are ya here to discuss?” asked
“Squirrels,” said Brew with a wide grin.
“I was afraid of that,” replied Deke. “What’s your squirrel
question?”
“Deke, you’re still acting like you’ve got two squirrels. Namely, Dawn and Sasha.”
“I’m thinking of Dawn as just a friend…I think,” said Deke. “When
we get home later this month, I was hoping to take a month’s leave. I wanted to
spend some time in
“Did she ever answer that e-mail you sent her back in November
after Nova went into her tube? You know, the one Aliscea told you to write?”
“No. I don’t even know if it reached her or not.”
“Have any idea where she is, Deke?”
“No, cuz. I
wrote to
“OK, what about Sasha?”
Deke sighed deeply at that. “I’ve been writing to her.”
“Is she still your girlfriend?”
“I guess so.”
“Sticks, what kind of answer is that?”
“I haven’t seen her in months. I don’t know where our relationship
is going or what we’ll be doing next or how long this war will last. After our
leave, we could be back out there again for another one or two years. We don’t
know shit, Brew.”
“Do ya think you have a future with her?”
“I guess we do. But I’m not sure how, or what, or where, or when.”
“Do you want to have a
future with her, Deke?”
“Yes, I want to. But will I? I don’t know yet. I’m not Iscandarian
and able to see the damn future, Brew. And neither is she.” However, as soon as
Deke said this, a weird shiver went up his spine. A crazy thought came to his
mind. How do I know that? There is so
much about Sasha I do not even know yet. I’ve never met her parents, never seen
or heard about where she comes from, and she has this weird flashes of
insight…she can’t be Iscandarian, but…how do I know that? And why am I even
thinking this? This is so weird. But…
“..she’s a mystery girl, Brew. I wish I
could get into this mystery, find out more about her, and…”
“You can see her at the Academy when we get home,” said Brew.
“But, Dawn…she’s this
ghost. A ghost in my past. I have to get rid of
this ghost, before…”
“Before you can be with Sasha? Deke, Sasha is gorgeous! She’s
crazy about you, man! You last saw Dawn almost five years ago and you have no
idea what she’s like now, Sticks! And you saw how brief that e-mail from Dawn
was. Two lines?
Wake up and smell the coffee, cuz! She doesn’t have any more feelings for you.
None at all. Maybe she is carrying a torch, but probably not. Maybe
“Yeah,” said Deke. “Maybe I need to do that. But can I?”
“Man,” said Brew. “When you get like this….you’re
just plain impossible.”
II.
ERUGAR GROWS IN MALICE AND DISGRACE
Planet
R’Khelleva
April
11, 2207
1000
Hours: Earthtime
Yvona was both shocked and disgusted at her strange son.
Erugar’s bizarre growth continued.
The evil little child was now the equivalent of about nine or ten
years old, and Yvona watched as the loincloth-clad boy fought a far stronger
and older R’Khell warrior in a sword duel.
The R’Khell, who was in his late twenties, was losing rapidly to
the child as the boy evaded his defenses and cruelly slashed him over and over
again.
By
Ekogaru, thought the exhausted, bleeding warrior as he fought the boy, This child is a demon in flesh. He is not
remotely natural! He is not…
The tall, bearded, loicloth-clad warrior evaded Erugar’s defenses
and stabbed towards his heart, angry enough at the Child to kill him now.
Erugar evaded death by centimeters, danced back on the balls of
his feet, and he screamed as he reached in, used his sword to cut off the
warrior’s sword hand in a vicious slash that surprised even him, and then,
finally, he ended it by jumping up with a scream, ramming his sword into the
warrior’s heart, and jumping onto his dying body and howling in triumph with
his foot on his chest as the warrior bled out into the sand.
“I did it!” he screamed. “By all the powers, I did it!” laughed
Erugar. “Second one I killed today! That one was a lieutenant with ten years’
service! Mother, I have passed my tests! Major Ginis, I have killed two times
in one day! I am good enough to be commissioned, now! Grant me my warrior’s
commission and rank!”
“I am not sure yet,” said Ginis. “You are so young, and…”
“What more must I prove?” bellowed Erugar. “I killed one man with
my mind and I ran this one through today in my trials. I have won! It is my
father’s command! Commission me!”
“I do not know if you know your father’s will on this,” said a
nervous Yvona as men took away the corpse of the R’Khell officer Erugar had
slain.
“I KNOW HIS WILL!” roared Erugar as he reached out and began to
strangle an old Colonel with his mind. “Dalvets, grant
me my commission now, or I begin by
killing you and then maybe not stop until I put the rest of the High Command in
hell!”
Erugar smiled as Dalvets struggled to catch his breath while four
R’Khell officers levelled their weapons at the near-naked boy. “Oh, are we
trying that, now?” sneered Erugar.
Erugar nodded, and one of the guards’ ceremonial daggers flew up from its
sheath and stabbed the warrior in the neck with a killing blow. Another one
tried to fire, but the blaster exploded in his hand and turned him into a
screaming human torch.
Dalvets fell to the ground and began to gasp his last breaths as a
black, evil form appeared, and everyone who could still kneel knelt as Ekogaru
manifested himself as a black spirit. Everyone knelt, that is, except Erugar.
“Hello, daddy,” said Erugar with a smile. “Four
dead today. And soon to be a fifth. Tell these
idiots to grant me my rank and commission me.”
“Son, you did well. Let Dalvets go so he can live to commission you,” replied Ekogaru.
A moment later, Dalvets was released so that Erugar could kick
him. Ekogaru looked at him and said, “I think you have seen what Duke Erugar
can do now, Colonel. I create my son as a Duke of the R’Khell Union this
minute. You will grant him a uniform and ceremonial dagger and commission him
as a Lieutenant tomorrow morning at sunrise, and I care not how freakish it
seems, it is my command! Do so, for I
have need of him. I will be here, at this spot, at sunrise. Do NOT defy me,
people!”
“Yes, Lordship,” said Dalvets.
Erugar, her son, strode forward fully clad at last in the red and
black uniform, cloak, and boots of a R’Khell
Lieutenant.
Erugar smiled in silence as he knelt before a silent Dalvets, who
pinned the rank pips of a Lieutenant on the boy’s epaulets and then blessed him
with a very reluctant double-kiss of peace as he welcomed the evil young noble
into the Order of R’Khell warriors. He handed Erugar a dagger,
that the new officer put into a sheath near his left shoulder.
Another warrior handed Erugar a blaster as the boy took it and
fired it once into the air. “Warriors!” he roared. “Recognize me now as a
commander! I have plans for you and for Earth! I…”
“Not yet, son,” said Ekogaru as he appeared before the crowd, this
time in the body of Stovall. The group trembled and knelt as they heard the
hated but familiar voice of the wrathful “god” who kept them enslaved in
fanaticism and hatred. “I have commissioned you, boy. But you have yet to pass my trials. I send you now on a R’jkharraz
Ordeal to prove and test your psionic powers and devotion to me, lad. You leave
at once. If you live, you will be
clad in the black robes of one of my warrior priests upon your return.”
“What do I take with me?” said Erugar.
“Only the dagger I granted you. Yvona, strip him of everything else.”
“What?” said Erugar as Yvona smiled and embraced her son as she
began to undress him out of his uniform.
“You will find clothes in the desert,” said Ekogaru as he smiled
while Yvona pulled off the boy’s dress tunic and undershirt, and then, with a
little grin, opened his pants and pulled them down with his underwear while the
others laughed at him. “Besides, I have pleasures to teach you, as well, should
you survive,” said Ekogaru as Yvona freed the struggling Child from his uniform
and boots. “When she is done, kneel before me,” said Ekogaru. “I have to extend
upon you my blessing.”
When Yvona was done, she smiled at Erugar and spanked him once on
his bare bottom as everyone laughed at him. Then, she shoved him towards his
father. Finally, Erugar stood totally naked before the group. He slowly knelt
before his Dark Lord as everyone went silent. “My son, in whom I am
well-pleased, go now on your Ordeal. Give him a single
skin of water, Ginis. Return not, Erugar, until you return hence as a man. GO!”
Erugar took the skin of water from Ginis,
slung it over his bare shoulder, and then he kissed his mother goodbye as he
walked off naked into the desert without looking at anyone else.
“I hope he does not survive,” said Dalvets in a near-whisper to
Yvona.
“I hate to say this, but part of me agrees with you,” said Yvona.
Five days passed in the hot Great Desert of R’Khelleva. The Terran
date was now April 17, 2207.
Erugar stumbled about, sunburned from his sweat-matted long-haired
head down to his cut and bleeding toes as he adjusted the rough loincloth and
belt he had made from the skin of an animal he had slain, tanned, and eaten his
first day. Some of its jerked flesh still sustained him in a small bag he wore
at one of his near-naked hips.
The child looked wild now. He was now the rough equivalent of
fourteen years of age, and his hair had grown long, and he had began to sprout
body hair in the fashion of a teenager. He also had begun to grow a beard, a
sign that he was approaching manhood in the warrior culture of the R’Khells.
He ate some jerked meat, but he was still hungry as he staggered
in the heat, and sat down gasping in some sand near a group of rocks.
He looked up, not at all surprised when Ekogaru stood in the
desert before him.
“Hello, son.
You live.”
“No thanks to you, father, eating the dried flesh of these
rabbit-like Vellats and drinking the
blood of these reptilian K’Rattzim to
live. I eat the refuse of the desert, father. I want more. I want bread! I want
a banquet!”
“If you are my son,” said Ekogaru. “You can make yourself bread.
Turn these stones into bread, child. That is your first test.”
Erugar smiled, shut his eyes, and picked up a stone. He muttered
some words, and then confidently bit into the stone, smiling as he realized he
was chewing a warm hunk of fresh bread, and not breaking his teeth upon stone.
“Good,” said Ekogaru. “Eat well, son. Turn that rock into a wine
goblet, and turn that one into steak. Eat, and have thine fill. You will need
it today for your next test.”
Erugar laughed with his demonic father as he prepared for his next
test.
A while later, Erugar stood in his ragged loincloth on the
pinnacle of the Temple of Ekogaru in the R’Khell capital as crowds of priests
and their victims and acolytes offered sacrifices to a great statue of Ekogaru
whose feet stood enshrined in flames as victims were always burned to him in a
great bowl of fire before his feet.
Erugar smiled as he watched a young naked woman being tied up as
she wept. The evil priests of Ekogaru stood calling their chants to the Dark
Lord as she was cast onto the altar before the bowl of fire and had her throat
cut as she screamed and her screams then turned into dying gurgles. Then, she
was consigned to the flames at the Image’s feet even as she died in the fire
and the musicians blew horns and banged on gongs.
“Now, Erugar,” whispered Ekogaru. “If you are my son, cast
yourself down into the courtyard. NOW.”
“I’ll die,” whispered Erugar.
“Fear not,” said Ekogaru. “My demons will stop your descent and
catch you. Then, they will worship you after you pass your final test.”
“Which will be?”
“Prostrate yourself before my Image and worship me,” said Ekogaru.
“I am your God. No one else.”
Ekogaru vanished as Erugar shut his eyes and threw himself off the
pinnacle of the R’Khell Temple.
He expected to die, but he stopped before he hit the stones as he
felt himself held up by cold, invisible hands as he floated in the air with his
hands out before the altar.
The worship stopped as everyone clapped their hands and knelt.
“Ekogaru’s son!” screamed one priest.
“We are visited!” screamed another one.
“A god is among us!” yelled another man.
“O, son of Ekogaru!” cried another priest as he helped the boy to
the ground and kissed him.
Among the claps and cheers of the crowd, Erugar knelt and then
prostrated himself on the ground before the monstrous Image of Ekogaru. “I am
his son!” he screamed. “But he gave me life and let me live! Worship him now!
Worship and serve him, and him alone! He is verily a
god!”
And, invisble as he was, Ekogaru smiled as his evil son whipped
the crowd into a frenzy.
His
preparation is complete, thought the Dark Lord. Now, later on, I shall reward him. He has earned it.
A day later, Erugar returned home to his mother.
Erugar came in, wearing a fur-lined cloak, a fine loincloth, fine
sandals, and carrying a bag of money. “Mother, here is some swag I stole. Half
of it is yours.”
“I heard about you at the
“Are you proud, Mother?” laughed Erugar.
“I am sickened. By God, you played those deluded people like a
violin. All the R’Khell Union now calls you their new Messiah, the Son of
Ekogaru. You do nothing in a small
way.”
“Are you not proud? I made a banquet for them.”
“That was sick.”
“I called fire from heaven.”
“Even sicker.”
“Father then let me rob an Outcast woman in the desert, strip her
of her clothes, rape her, and then kill her. My first woman,
at last. Pity he didn’t let me let her live. I would have made her fat
with child.”
“Don’t you realize where you are getting all this power from?”
whispered Yvona. “Someone who owns your soul. And he
will collect at the end.”
“Why is that so bad?” laughed Erugar.
“If you do not realize why, then there is nothing I can do for
you,” said Yvona. “God have mercy upon your rotten soul.”
Erugar only laughed at that as he gave silver and gold to his
mother, and wondered why she refused it.
III.
THE GREAT SUMMONS
Space
Battleship
The
Vicinity of Sirius
April
18, 2207
1415
Hours: Earthtime
As the
“Captain Venture,” he said.
“Yessir?” said Venture.
Singleton smiled and then said, “When you finish your rendezvous
with the Courageous, make your way
out of the Sirius System and begin heading for home. The Second Star Force is
now released from its deployment. You can come home.”
Mark nodded at the Commander and said, “Thank you, sir. We will be
back on Earth in just a few days.”
“We cannot wait to see you,” said the Commander as he saluted.
“You have done a great job.”
“Thank you,” said Venture.
Later that day, at sixteen hundred on the nose, Conroy called
together all of the Sun Tigers as the Courageous
left.
“I don’t know what you have heard,” said Conroy. “I mean, what you
have heard in the way of scuttlebutt. I am making it official. We are warping
away from here in an hour. Our destination; the solar system.
Guys, gals, we’re goin…”
His last word was blocked out as everyone clapped their hands and
some pilots got up and hugged each other. Finally, Conroy barked, “Our
deployment’s over! We’re goin’ home!
We should be back on Earth in about nine days, give or take a few hours.”
Home, thought
April
19, 2207….1600 Hours, Earthtime
At roughly the same time, another EDF space battleship cruised majesticially
into the Pluto orbit.
The Argo was finally back in her home star system, and she would be home
tomorrow. The deployment would soon be over with.
In the wardroom, Jefferson Hardy took a deep swallow as he
adjusted the collar on his peacoat and sat at a table and waited for Dawn.
The young woman came in a moment later, in one of her Medical
minidresses with boots, looking very perky and happy as she whistled to
herself.
“Dawn?” said Hardy.
“You said we were to meet for dinner? It’s our last dinner on this
ship before we get home tomorrow morning, you know. I’m going to have a long
day tomorrow at the hospital. I hate to rush, but I don’t know when I’ll see
you again, or when we can get together again during our leave, and…”
“Ah know,” said Hardy. He grabbed Dawn’s hands and turned very
serious for a moment. “I have somethin’ to ask you. It’s very important.”
“What?” said Dawn as Hardy smiled at her and looked into her eyes
through the single deep brown eye she could see beneath his hair.
Hardy smiled, let go of Dawn’s hands, and slowly produced a small
box from the inner pocket of his peacoat. “Ah asked you yoah ring size yestuday
for a reason, Dawn. This was meant for Mio Hoshiyama, and I never got to give
it to her. She was killed around this time five years ago by the Technomugar
after they took her prisoner. I hope you don’t mind if we rebaptize this for
you. I had Sandor resize it.”
He slowly opened the small box and Dawn’s eyes went wide as she looked
at a small silver and gold ring with a solitaire diamond on it. It looked like a engagement ring.
“Is that…what…I think it is?” said Dawn Westland as Hardy took the
ring out of the box and slowly slid it onto her finger.
“It is,” said Jefferson Hardy as he bowed his head. Then, he
looked at Dawn and said, “Miss Dawn Westland, Lieutenant of the World Health
Organization Nursin’ Corps, would you accept this old pilot’s proposal of
matrimony?”
“I…uh….I…” said Dawn as she looked at the ring and smiled to
herself. “I have to think about this a minute…it’s…sort…of…sudden,” said Dawn
as she smiled.
“Dawn?” said Hardy as Dawn played with the ring. “I…uh…do you
accept?”
“Still thinking,” said Dawn.
“I…uh..er…”
“Figured it out,” smiled Dawn as she looked Hardy right in the
eyes. “Let me see both those eyes for once,” she said as she brushed his hair
back. Then, she smiled again and said, “Jeff…”
“Yes?”
“I accept your offer.”
Then, she kissed him from across the table. They laughed together
as Hardy said, “When do you want to get married?”
“As soon as possible,” said Dawn.
Hardy’s eyes widened. “On the ship?”
“No, silly,” said Dawn. “I have plans to just elope and not tell
my mother until after the fact. This is my plan, if you’ll hear me out…”
“And it is?”
Dawn began to whisper her wedding plans to Hardy as she smiled and
made him smile.
Hardy then thought, I was so
afraid of this moment…goin’ better than ah ever thought it would. Hope our
marriage goes the same way…
IV.
FIRST
Planet
R’Khelleva
Fleet
Headquarters
April
19, 2207
1812
Hours: Earthtime
In a dark, lonely briefing room in the R’Khell capital, Yvona
Josiah sat at the head of a table as Ekogaru’s phantom appeared beside her.
She bowed her head to the vile phantom as he said, “I see you and
Commander Erugar have brought our agents here to my presence. Yvona, you will
lead this mission as you leave tomorrow aboard the space submarine D’Rotja.”
“The mission?” said Yvona.
“You and Erugar,” said Ekogaru as he smiled towards his son, who
was now in a black uniform. He now wore a full head of long dark hair and had a
full, pointed beard. “You two are to lead a party of seven to perform an
assassination, or, rather, assassinations, on Earth. The mission is important
to both myself and to Princess Invidia of the Comet
Empire. Three of you are Cometines. Rise and identify yourselves.”
Two green men in Cometine uniforms and one Terran-looking Cometine
stood as they bowed before Ekogaru. “Deglits, Major, Gatlantean Special Forces,”
said the man who looked like a Caucasian Earthling.
“Envar, Lieutenant, Gatlantean Special Forces.”
“Ekar, Lieutenant, Gatlantean Special Forces.”
“Fine, gentlemen,” said Ekogaru. “Two of you are R’Khells. Bow to
me and introduce yourselves.”
“Lieutenant Shanda, Lord.”
“Lieutenant Vaga, Lord,” said a second, Rikashan-looking
orange-skinned man as he bowed.
Ekogaru smiled and said, “And, you two,
are Earthlings. Names!”
“Ivan Denisovitch Drachev,
former Lieutenant, Earth Defense Forces.”
A taller bearded Russian then stood and said, “Boris Vladmirovich
Barinietsyn, former Lieutenant, EDF. I am under a
death sentence on Earth, but…”
“It does not matter,” said Ekogaru. “Your target, a few people
that I foresee will be aboard a train on Earth in the next few weeks. The New Orient Express.
Its route runs between
“Lordship, I wonder how I will do that with two green agents and
one orange one…,” said Yvona.
“We will have matters well in hand with a special makeup….,” said
Ekogaru. “Now, go…”
“At your command, we prepare to go,” sighed
Yvona.
“Good. Yvona, you are in command, My son
is second in command. Go, and bring me Death.”
Yvona bowed her head, wondering how, before God, she was going to
get out of this mission.
Especially with her own
sick son watching her.
V.
THE SLEEPER AWAKES…
Planet
Earth
Space
Battleship Argo
Sickbay
April
20, 2207
0800
Hours: Earthtime
On the Argo, which had
just landed at a dock in the open in the Tokyo Megalopolis, Dawn Westland stood
waiting in the Long-Term Sleep room with Hardy, Bryan Hartcliffe, IQ-8.7,
Doctor Sane, Penny Akers, Sandor, Commodore Wildstar,
and the
Ensign Terrence Rogers had just been successfully awakened from
his long-term sleep tube, and the Ensign was being helped into a transport
litter capsule by Sandor, and Nurse Tasha Cleveland as
he looked around, rather confused. “Hard to believe it’s April already,” he
said. Transport litters contained their own atmosphere and sensors, but they
did not have the equipment needed to transport a patient in suspension; hence,
patients in long-term sleep customarily had to be awakened before being moved,
since the larger long-term sleep tubes were not that easily moved, even though
they could be ejected as lifeboats in emergencies.
“You’re going to be fine,” said Doctor Sane as he nodded to Tasha
Cleveland. Tasha helped him lay down on the stretcher, where the capsule was
closed, and Tasha and IQ 8.7 took him out at a run after nodding to Hartcliffe,
who would be flying them to
“Now, for the other one,” said Doctor Sane. He walked over towards
Nova’s tube slowly while Samantha Cleveland and Dawn Westland brought up the
litter.
“She’s going to be weak and confused when we bring her around,
Wildstar,” said Sane. “We’ll have to move as quickly as possible.”
Derek nodded as Doctor Sane said, “Sensors show Nova’s vitals and
those of the babies are stable. Power stable. Begin
initiation of suspension reversal. When she is brought around, she must be taken
to Central Hospital ASAP.”
“The hospital has been alerted?” said Dawn.
“They have an operating room ready,” said Sane. “Wildstar, would
you like to push the button?”
“Uh, which one?” said Derek as he looked at the panel.
“Right there,” said Dawn.
Derek Wildstar pushed the button.
The lights on the panel went red, and the life signs disappeared.
A whirring and hissing noise sounded deep in the sleep tube as a
gas passed into the tube.
Derek stood in silence as the gas passed over Nova’s sleeping
form. It obscured her from sight for a moment as several lights went on and off
on the status panel.
A moment later, the lights on the status board went dark as a glow
went through the gas for a moment. Then, the glow subsided, and the glass tube
whirred open.
Derek looked in at Nova. Her eyelids were fluttering as she
stretched and yawned a wide, deep yawn.
She opened her eyes and looked around. “Derek! How long has
it…been…?”
“A little over seven months, Nova,” he said with eyes brimming
with tears. “You’re home on Earth now. We’re safe.”
“Where am..I..going?” she said as Doctor
Sane ran a device over her stomach. “How are my children?”
“Fine for now,” said Sane as Nova looked at Samantha Cleveland and
Dawn Westland for the first time. “You two are…?”
“Lieutenant Samantha Cleveland,” said
“You look kind of familiar,” said Nova as her eyes met Dawn’s.
“Why are you looking at me like that, Ensign?” she said in a somewhat sleepy
voice.
As Dawn looked at Nova’s keen, dark brown eyes, she somehow felt
very abashed. The woman whom she had admired for many years had very
distinctive, beautiful eyes, even when she looked half-asleep like she did now.
Dawn immediately saw that Nova Wildstar looked both very intelligent and very
compassionate. Yet, with a somewhat trembling hand, Nova felt her side to see
if her weapon was there, and breathed a sigh of relief to see that it was.
“Ma’am,” said Dawn. “I’ve..admired you
from afar…for many years. My name is Ensign Dawn Westland…I…”
“Okay, cut the party!” screamed Doctor Sane. “This is a sick woman
that we have to get to the hospital as soon as possible!
Derek held Nova’s hand as they helped her onto the transport
litter. He kissed her as they closed up the litter and checked her vital signs
on the small screen on the unit, and then pushed her off the Argo onto the boat.
Soon, the Medical shuttle took off with all of them, including
Sane, on board, at full speed under Hardy’s guidance.
A few minutes later, after the shuttlecraft landed at a landing
pad on top of
“It won’t be long,” Derek said as he held her hand. “You’ll go to
sleep again for a while, and when you wake up..if
everything works out, you and our children should be on their way to recovery.”
He kissed her again as Sane and two other doctors came in with
Dawn and another nurse for Nova. The nurses were now in operating room garb,
with paper covers on over the clogs they had changed into. She waved at him as
they wheeled her through the double doors into the operating room.
In the operating room, Nova’s hospital gown was pulled up, and she
was connected to several sensors as nurses arranged drapes around her pregnant
stomach. She felt very cold, and a bit scared, but she smiled as Doctor Sane
said, “You’ll be fine.”
The anesthesiologist, a young woman known as Doctor Isolder, stood
over her and said, “Just a whiff or two of this gas, and you’ll be asleep for a
while. When you wake up, we’ll be done.”
Nova nodded, feeling just a little apprehensive as another team of
nurses brought up a complex machine she recognized as a dialysis unit. Other
machines were brought up, including a complex machine that Nova recognized as a
synthetic liver assistance unit, and Nova recognized several bags of blood
being connected to tubes and placed up on IV stands.
They
must be doing a total replacement, she thought as she felt
the pinch of a needle entering her wrist.
That was the last thing she thought as the mask went over her nose
and mouth, and she quickly passed into sleep as the operating room lights went
dim over her head.
“Okay, now we begin,” said Doctor Sane. “Dawn! Laser
knife!”
“Yessir,” she said.
Commodore Derek Wildstar sat alone in a waiting room, looking with
only slight interest at a back issue of Jane’s
Space Warship Journal. He threw aside the magazine and sat waiting as
Sandor came in with Hardy and Homer.
“Who has the conn aboard ship?” said Wildstar.
“The last man in command was Yamazaki,” said Homer. “We were
mustered off her at oh-nine-thirty hours. Our leave has started.”
“Yeah,” said Derek as he sighed.
“What’s wrong?” said Homer.
“If you were through what I was just through,” said Wildstar.
“They just had some priest in here with me discussing funeral arrangements…just
in case Nova doesn’t come off that operating table alive,” said Wildstar.
“Guys, if I had known this was going to happen…”
“No one can predict the future, Derek. Not even Starsha is one
hundred percent able to do that,” said a deep voice as Derek looked up and
recognized his big brother Alex.
“Alex?”
“Remember, I came to Earth with you to speak with the Government,”
said Alex Wildstar as he stood there clothed in a white uniform with a black
peacoat on over it. “I’m sorry I didn’t get down to Sickbay to wish Nova good
luck. I…”
“She’s in there already. She’s been in there for about…uh…three
hours…”
“We’re here with you, Wildstar,” said Sandor. “It should be all
right.”
“I hope so,” said Derek.
A long time passed. Nova had gone under at 0900 Hours and Doctor Sane
had estimated that the procedures that would save her and her unborn children
would take about four hours. It was now about five and a half hours, and it was
1435 Hours before Doctor Sane came out, with a tired, hangdog look on his face,
shaking his head.
Wildstar immediately feared that something very bad had happened. “Doc? How’s Nova?”
Sane looked at Derek and said, “It worked. We think. It took
longer and the operation made me very tired because we found further
complications with the unborn babies and we had to take longer to fix them, and
we had to replace all of Nova’s blood and the babies’ blood. But, Nova is now
out of danger, and after twenty-four hours of observation, if the damage to the
placenta I found and fixed remains fixed, the babies will also be out of
danger. We should be fine. Nova’s vital signs are stable, and so are the
babies’…”
“Is she awake?”
Sane nodded. “She is waking up now. She is in the ICU. All of you
can come in to see her, but you have only a few minutes.”
Derek was the first one in the room a few minutes later.
He and the others saw Nova lying there, looking very fragile, in a
hospital gown with wires and tubes of all sorts connected to her.
Derek took her hand, and was relieved to see that it was no longer
trembling
Nova opened her now-clear eyes and looked at her husband and
smiled. “Hi, Derek.”
“How are you feeling?” he said.
“Just fine,” she said. “That burning sensation
that was running under my skin…running inside me…it’s all gone now.” She
looked at an object on her bedside table. “What’s that?”
“It’s a medal Desslok gave you for saving his life during the
conference at Melezart.”
“Did I…kill Invidia…with that dagger she threw at us? I hope that
horrible woman is dead…”
“No,” said Sandor sadly. “I’ve heard she survived the attack,
although she and the Cometines were very badly hurt. We nearly destroyed the
New Comet in the battle.”
“Nearly destroyed,”
whispered Nova. “Is it still out there?”
Derek nodded. “But they seem to be on the defensive now, even
though the war is still being fought. The Argo
was through a few small battles while you were asleep. They also bombed Earth
twice.”
“When will this be over?” whispered Nova.
“No one knows, sister-in-law,” said Alex softly. “Starsha sent me
to Earth to appeal to the Earth Government for more planes. I came here on the Argo. Derek cruised out to Iscandar to
get me.”
“We were to Iscandar?” said Nova. “I sure missed a lot being
asleep. I had a lot of lovely dreams, Derek.”
“About what?” said Derek.
“You. Our children. I dreamed of being home, with the war over,
being in their nursery, getting ready to go to Medical School, cuddling with
you, Derek, and lying in the grass giving the babies my breasts…and there was
no more war. No more fighting of any sort. Just…peace…”
“I’m shure we’ll have peace, Missus Nova,” said Hardy.
“
“Just a few of them,” he said as he blushed.
“All right, that’s enough!”
cried Doctor Sane. “This is a woman who is still in guarded condition! We don’t
need some kind of damn convention in here! Everyone, clear
out!”
Derek left with the others, waving goodbye to Nova. She blew his a
kiss in return.
Commodore Derek Wildstar showed up at the hospital the next day
with his brother to find that Nova was no longer in the ICU.
“Well, where is she then?” demanded Derek of the nurse. “Did
something happen during the night?”
“It happened this morning,” said the nurse. “She’s in Maternity
Two up on the tenth floor, Room B-1027.”
“What is she doing in Maternity?” insisted Derek.
“It’s a precaution in case delivery has to be induced. You can see
her there,” said the nurse.
Derek and Alex then went up to the tenth floor to find Nova in her
room, sitting there in a set of white pajamas and chatting with Dawn Westland.
It seemed to Derek that Nova and Dawn had become fast friends in a hurry.
“Good morning,” said Derek.
“Morning, honey,” said Nova as she kissed her husband.
“She’s been a great patient,” said Dawn. “We were sitting here
discussing different nursing protocols when you two showed up. Have you seen
Jeff this morning?”
“Jeff?” said a puzzled Derek.
“She means Mister Hardy,” said Nova.
“No, I haven’t seen Hardy since last night. He was a bit
close-mouthed about what he was going to be up to next.”
“Good,” said Dawn enigmaticially.
“What do you mean by that?” asked Nova.
“You’ll find out soon enough. When’s the
“On the twenty-seventh,” said Derek. “Six days from now.”
Dawn nodded to herself, and then said, “Well, I have to make some
more rounds. Word has it that Nova will be moved to Medical in two days if she
continues doing as well as she’s been, which is just
fine. Take care.”
Three days later, on the twenty-fourth, Nova was sitting up in
another bed in Medical, now wearing a set of pink and white-striped pajamas
that her mother had bought her (along with a maternity wardrobe). Derek swore
his wife’s stomach looked just a tiny bit bigger now, as she had recovered
almost all of her normal healthy glow at last.
“Doc Sane’s been talking about discharging you soon,” said Derek.
“I know,” said Nova. “I can’t wait to come home and get this over
with.” She looked around the hospital room. “They’re kind to me here, but I
miss being with you, and I want to be home…”
“I can’t wait to bring you home,” replied Derek as he held Nova.
“I miss you so much around the house.”
Nova kissed Derek and said, “ I can’t
wait to enjoy our leave together. Especially since the war seems to have slowed
down.”
“I wonder what the Cometines are up to?” said Derek.
VI.
GERNITZ’S DISGRACE
The
Vicinity of Planet Petronia
The
Bridge of the Dreadnought Devastation
April
25, 2207
1100
Hours: Earthtime
Marshal Germitz could not believe what had happened to his fleet.
He was in battle with Radnar’s Dreadnought, and, so far, he had
lost thirty destroyers, fifteen missile cruisers, and eight space battleships.
And his own flagship was actually taking damage from Radnar!
“Sir, at least five main gun turrets are damaged,” said an officer
aboard the Devastation to Gernitz.
“Main engines damaged,” reported another officer as fire roared in
from Radnar’s own Dreadnought.
“Can we lower our siege cannon?” demanded Gernitz.
“Damaged,” snapped another officer. “We are going to have to
retreat…”
As the Devastation shook
again and the lights dimmed on the bridge, Gernitz said, “All remaining forces.
Prepare for a warp. We are leaving the area. Repeat, we are leaving the area.
Radnar has won this round!”
Gernitz’s forces then warped out, leaving Petronia, at last, in
the hands of Radnar.
House Gatlantis was truly falling on hard times.
And, Gernitz knew Invidia would not be pleased
at this latest loss…not at all.
To Return to the Introduction to The New Comet, click here